Actually, it's not about the living conditions that we have now. It's about the living conditions that some are likely to have a year from now !!!
If you really want my 'gloom and doom' predicition, it goes along the lines of the US gov'ts credit rating being cut sometime next spring after president Obama and democratic super-majorities in congress embark on an unrestrained spending spree of union industry bailouts, democratic state bailouts, and additional unemplolyment / social welfare benefits. This will be followed by foreign lenders finally becoming so disgusted that they will back away from further loans to the USA (a.k.a. back away from future purchases of US treasuries, or even the sale of treasuries they already hold). At that point, the US will find itself insolvent ... leading to either an Argentina-like stiffing of foreign creditors or the wholesale printing of new US dollars. The world's response will be to revalue the US dollar exchange rate to a new level commeasurate with America's future creditworthiness ... at least 30% less than it is today (and possibly 50%). This in turn will cause a near immediate 30% (and possibly 50%) increase in the price of all world market commodities i.e. gasoline, food, anything else imported. With massive price increases, with zero change in (or declining) after-tax earnings, but with far less in the way of available credit to cover the shortfall (unlike last year's use of credit cards to paper over family budget shortfalls), the
[email protected]#t will finally hit the fan in regard to the 'unsustainability' of middle class American lifestyles.
Additionally, for those Americans who are 'lucky' enough to still afford food, gasoline etc. at 30-50% higher US dollar denominated prices, there is also the issue of bankrupt retailers, of distressed banks, and of wary foreign suppliers choosing not to ship goods to the USA for fear that they will not actually be paid ... or fearful that the amount of US dollars they receive in payment will have depreciated versus their 'home' currency between shipment and delivery and actual payment to the point of cancelling out their original profit margin. As such, it is probable that real shortages will start to appear ... particularly shortages of formerly low cost imported food items a la WalMart. Yes there will still be plenty of US grown organic vegetables to go around ... but at three times the former WalMart price for Chinese import vegetables ! This will lead to dilemmas for many US families of buying food versus buying gasoline versus making the rent payment.
As a result, urban areas are likely to see unprecedented levels of 'civil unrest' as well. And this is likely to happen at the same time that de-facto bankrupt states and large cities will be forced to lay off police officers by the thousands !
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